Last month marked the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark sexual harassment case, Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, which held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964′s bar on discrimination “because of sex” prohibited an employer from subjecting an employee to a sexually hostile work environment. Sexual harassment law has come a long way since, though there is still room for improvement.
In Meritor, Mechelle Vinson came under the supervision of Sydney Taylor, a bank vice president, who repeatedly propositioned her for sex. Vinson reluctantly consented because she thought that she would lose her job if she didn’t. Over the next few years, Taylor subjected Vinson to horrific sexual harassment – exposing himself to her at the workplace, fondling her in front of other employees and even raping her on several occasions. When Vinson’s Title VII claim reached the Supreme Court, the bank – along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business amici curiae – argued that Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination did not encompass “sexual advances towards an individual female employee.”
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